Door Jamb and Frame Adjustment and Repair Q&A

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Dear NH,

I have some newly installed pre-hung doors in an old house. The doors do
not align with the stops. Some touch the stop at the top before they are closed,
and some touch the stop at the bottom before they latch closed. I can make them
latch, but this involves a fair amount of pressure to warp the door to the stop.
Yes, the walls are askew, and the installer claims that there was nothing he
could do to install them so that they closed correctly. I think that is
nonsense.

I don't want to reinstall the doors at this point. Is there any way to
adjust the door so that it meets the stops correctly? I was thinking that I just
need to move the stops on the top and the latch side. Can you set me straight?

NB from Boca Raton, FL

Yes, you can move the stops and repaint. It is easier than moving the hinges,
for sure!

It may be possible that the door, and not the frame, is warped. Get a length
of string and stretch it between opposite corners of the door on both sides, one
at a time. If the string does not lie flat against the door, the door is warped.

As you close the door, watch the hinges. Do they appear to flex and move as
the door reaches its closing point. Perhaps the contractor installed the
hinge-side jamb slightly twisted. That would require removal of the moldings
and reshimming of the jamb. This is an easy error to make and can make the wall
appear to be out of whack when it really isn't.

Unfortunately, it is indeed possible that the carpenter did the best he
could. It can be extremely difficult to install a new, straight door and jamb in
an older "seasoned" house. The old doors and frames have
"settled" into the framing and have bent and twisted to conform with
the aging of the house. New doors, however, are not very compliant.

I have
always warned my clients that this possibility exists so they are prepared for
less than perfect results. Perhaps your carpenter set your expectations a
little too high!

Dear NH,

Need to know how to replace a door jam on my daughter's bedroom door. Her
older brother and his friend bashed into the door (it was locked) and all but
destroyed the door jamb. We've nailed it on a hundred times to no avail ... the
wood of the jam is split, etc. I'm a single mother and do not want to pay
someone to do what I think I can do myself.

But, knowledge is power, so I first wanted to ask the pros… you!

LR from Madison Heights, Michigan

LR,,

Sometimes you can save the expense and labor of replacing the jamb by a three
step REPAIR... gluing, nailing, and filling. The first thing to do is to see if
you can fit the pieces to fit back together reasonably well. It doesn't have to
look great... just "together". If there are big gaps with broken
pieces of wood missing, it can be filled with a two part product called Minwax
High Performance Wood Filler. It is a stinky-as-heck product that sets in about
ten minutes, but it sticks better than many glues, fills holes, and can be
sanded.

With a door jamb, you have to both nail and glue. The glue will do most of
the work, but the nailing is necessary to hold the pieces together while the
glue dries. So apply your adhesive, either regular wood glue or HP Wood Filler,
and then press the broken parts together. Drive a few thin nails through the
broken part into a solid part. If this cannot be done, just hold the wood in
place while the HP Wood Filler dries... it won't take long. Sand the HP Wood
filler as soon as it is hard enough... it continues to harden for an hour or
more, and will eventually get so hard that it will not sand very well.

You might have to fill/sand a couple of times to get it nice and flat. Once
painted, if you did a good job, the repair should be almost invisible.

On the other hand, REPLACING part of a door jamb requires the following steps…
at a minimum:

1) Use a putty knife to break the paint seal between the jamb and the door
moldings (or casing). You will also have to break the paint seal between the
moldings and the wall.
2) Gently pry the moldings attached to both sides of the broken section of jamb
away from the jamb and the wall a quarter inch or so, exposing the nails.
3) Using a hacksaw blade mounted in a special saw handle (available at any
hardware store), saw each of the nails, sliding the saw blade between the wall
and the molding. Remove the molding. Doing it this way instead of trying to
pull the nails out saves the face of the molding so you keep the molding
intact and have less repair later.
4) You will now see how the side jamb is interlocked with the top jamb. You will
have to break the side jamb apart to free it from the top jamb. First, cut
horizontally across the side jamb with a hand or power saw within a few inches
of the top jamb. You can now pry the bulk of the side jamb from the wall. Then
use a wood chisel to split the remaining piece apart so that it can be removed.
5) The board you use for the replacement jamb should be designed for that
purpose. These specially made "raw" jambs are available at any
lumberyard. However, there are only certain sizes available. If your jamb is an
odd size, you will have to make one from a board… usually pine.
6) Cut and nail the new jamb in place. It does not necessarily have to interlock
with the top jamb as the original did. You can just press it tightly against the
top jamb and nail it into the frame. Of course, you will have to use wood
spacers are the top jamb and the side jamb so that it is even with the door. Use
the door as a guide to position the new jamb.
7) Install a new stop on the door jamb.
8) Position and install the lock strike.

I could go into more detail, but hey… I'm not trying to write a book here!
The point is for you to understand why I always think REPAIR first instead of
REPLACE in most any job I tackle. Replacing a door jamb is not a monumental
carpentry job, but it is a more time consuming, expensive, and skill-intensive
job than a repair.